MOL GROUP TO HALVE NUMBER OF BOARD DIRECTORS

MOL GROUP TO HALVE NUMBER OF BOARD DIRECTORS    Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has announced a plan to restructure its board of directors and its senior management at the group headquarters in Tokyo, leading to a reduction in the number of directors from 28 to 11 or 12.
   The company will present the management revamp plan to the annual shareholders meeting of MOL in June.
   At present, the board of directors of the Japanese company comprises the chairman, the president, four executive vice presidents, four senior managing directors, eight managing directors and 10 directors. After July, according to the restructuring plan, two or three non-executive directors would sit on the board, but a number of executive officers would no longer be board directors.
   Seeking two or three outside directors with proven success in specialized professional areas would ensure more effective management, the company said.
   MOL said that the reorganization would give the board of directors a more active role in the company; it would introduce an “executive officer assignment plan” to clarify decision-making and work responsibilities, and simplify the layers of management and speed up decision making.
   The issue of the transparency of management processes and corporate governance has become more important, the Japanese shipping group said.